{"id":51,"date":"2014-04-06T04:42:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T04:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kashmir-today.net\/what-kashmiri-kids-learn-at-school\/"},"modified":"2014-04-06T04:42:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-06T04:42:00","slug":"what-kashmiri-kids-learn-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"What Kashmiri kids learn at school"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018Ali is a barber but Ankit is a doctor\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
Saif Ahmad is the first standard student at a private school in south Kashmir<\/span><\/i><\/a>. His father Ghulam Ahmad Sofi runs a tea stall in Pulwama, which earns him a near-sufficient income to feed his family. Mr Sofi wanted to become a doctor but financial problems afflicting his family forced him to drop out of school at a young age soon after he wrote his senior secondary exam papers. But he hasn\u2019t let this lack of fortune touch his son Saif, 6, and ensures that his son gets best available education. Often in the evenings when Saif has returned from school, Mr Sofi sits by his side to guide him in doing school assignments.<\/span><\/div>\n
Some days ago when Mr Sofi was routinely quizzing his son on what he had learnt in school, the answer of Saif left him puzzled: \u201cPapa, is God my father?\u201d Saif asked.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
Mr Sofi was perplexed and he asked Saif who had taught him so.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cImtiyaz sir taught us a new rhyme today. Here, look at this,\u201d Saif replied innocently, handing over the book to his father which contained the rhyme \u2018O God, O God, You are my father; I am your Little Child.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
The book published by Delhi-based Impressive Publishers is part of English textbook series \u201cClassmate\u201d for lower primary classes which are being taught at various private schools in Kashmir. Mr Sofi thought the parental characterization of God in the textbook was offensive. Next day, he went to the school and raised his concern with the management who told him that the books can be changed from next session only.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cIf teachers and parents don\u2019t guide students, they will be misguided by books. Even if the content is offensive, the books are designed in such a way that it looks appealing. If the books teach that God is Father, the child will end up losing his religious and cultural moorings. How can God be Father? It is against the basic tenants of our religion. I looked on the face of my child. He was waiting for my answer, but I didn\u2019t know what to tell him,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
Saif studies at Career Care Institute of Education and Training which is located inside a single-storied complex in Newa village of Pulwama. The office of the school is housed on the first floor of a large, double-storied building, adjacent to which is SKM College of Education and Training which offers 10+2 and B.Ed courses. Both the institutes are owned by Ghulam Hassan Talib, a KAS officer who retired as transport commissioner from J&K government. Mr Talib says he has no role in selecting which books are taught to the primary class students.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWe teach books recommended by Board of School Education to students of higher classes. However, for primary class students, there is a panel headed by the school principal which decides which book should be taught,\u201d he said. Asked whether he had gone through the content of the books, he said: \u201cI am a busy man. I don\u2019t have time to do that.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
But the problem is of a bigger scale and it is not limited to one child or one school. I visited almost a dozen schools in south Kashmir to investigate this story. In another textbook series \u2018Evershine English Reader\u2019 by Delhi-based Evershine Publishers, the socio-cultural deviations in the books which are taught to the puerile minds of young children are starker and even obscene. In the \u2018Evershine\u2019 series, a majority of the characters used in the illustrations have names like Vishu Sharma, Avinash Gupta, Kavita, Tinki and Shweta, despite the fact that the children can\u2019t identify with these names. The principles of classroom-teaching learnt by a qualified teacher in a B.Ed course obligate him to lead students from simple to complex, known to unknown, near to far and concrete to abstract.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
But these principles are brazenly violated in the sample of books lifted from almost a dozen schools in south Kashmir. The characterization of Muslims in these books is distasteful and may come across as offensive for many people. Consider this: a Muslim character is always associated with downtrodden professions in both \u2018Evershine\u2019 and \u2018Impressive\u2019 series of textbooks. In an English textbook for class 1st students, there is a chapter named \u2018Our Helpers\u2019 in which Juned (sic) is a barber, Ali is a mason and Akram is a tailor but Amit is an engineer, Ankita is a doctor and Prashant is a policeman. Then there are chapters on mythical Hindu chronicles ranging from the virtues of Lord Vishnu to the importance of Onam festival while the Muslims festival or Id is mentioned in a passing reference.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
Mr Sofi didn\u2019t want his son\u2019s thought process to get infected by adulterated information. \u201cAnswering his question was necessary, otherwise it would have created a conflict in his mind. Education helps a child in growing mentally as well as intellectually. But here, his religion, cultural values and social beliefs were being violated to influence his thinking. I went through his other books and found a number of similar flaws. I talked to the school management who took up another series of textbooks but it too has serious issues,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
The office of Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, the regulatory body of school education, is located near Baramulla-Srinagar highway on the outskirts of Srinagar city. The board is presently headless with Hridesh Kumar, the State\u2019s secretary of school education, acting as its in-charge. Repeated attempts to meet him didn\u2019t fructify and his phone was switched off. The \u2018mission\u2019 of the board declared on its website is to \u2018achieve excellence in the development and implementation of academic plan for the students studying up to higher secondary level in the state\u2019. The board come under the directorate of school education which passes strictures from time to time in revising and implementing the guidelines for school education.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
The office of the director of school education, Mir Tariq, is located at Barbar Shah near the historic SP College in Srinagar. On the first day when I called him on his phone to seek an appointment, he asked me to come over to his office. Once I reached there at around 1 pm, his personal assistant told me that \u2018sir\u2019 had left the off<\/p>\n

ice to attend an \u2018important\u2019 meeting. I tried to reach him on phone but he didn\u2019t answer my calls. From then onwards, I made it sure to give him a phone call at least once or twice every day, but all my calls went unanswered. On the seventh day, I went straight to his office. His personal secretary didn\u2019t let me in initially but asked me to come after 2 pm. I had to wait for two more hours. There was nothing I could do more to speed up the time of appointment than to wait.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

At the appointed time, the secretary led me into a finely furnished office overlooking a small manicured garden. Mr Tariq, a clean-shaven, round-faced man with a thick moustache, is slouched into a revolving chair which he swirls from one side to another. His bureaucratic style of speaking is hard to miss. I handed over a couple of flawed textbooks to him. After reading the books, Mr Tariq admitted that the books had \u2018serious flaws\u2019 and he insisted on revealing the names of schools where these books are taught. When he was asked whether the board had any internal mechanism to monitor the textbooks taught at various schools, he said such a mechanism didn\u2019t exist. \u201cBut I will order an inquiry and if what you are telling me is true and these books are taught to students, we will definitely take action against the schools,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
The matter of formulating syllabi for schools is handled by Subject\/Courses Committee of the Board of School Education (BOSE). A senior board official who didn\u2019t wish to be named said that all the private schools are directed to teach textbooks published by National Council for Educational <\/span>Research<\/span> <\/span>and Training, or their \u2018localized versions\u2019 to the students.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cThere is no specific series of books that is recommended by board for primary class students. Up to class 7th, the private schools are left at their discretion to decide which books should be taught while from class 8th to class 12th, the board has made NCERT books mandatory for all schools recognized by it. All the private schools have been asked to adopt only those books for primary classes which reflect and respect the social and cultural sensibilities of the place,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
However, Authint Mail learnt that in most of the cases, the private schools go out of way and select their own textbooks which may or may not fit into the socio-cultural milieu of Kashmir. With no regulatory body to check the \u2018adulteration\u2019 of education, the problem has persisted and remained unnoticed. \u201cTo show another community or religion as developed and the other it\u2019s opposite, is a deliberate attempt to malign a particular community. When a child is consistently and regularly taught that people of one religion are associated with a noble profession while others are downtrodden, this is a deliberate propaganda and not education. It is an attempt to dehumanize a particular community, a sort of Blacks-in-America type picture being projected,\u201d PG Rasool, a prominent citizen and a newspaper columnist with daily <\/span>Kashmir Reader<\/span><\/em> <\/span>said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
He demanded that the board should monitor what type of books are taught in schools and if someone has done a mischief, he should be identified and punished. \u201cIt seems to be an anti-intellectual campaign against the people of Kashmir. When the State wasted no time in curbing anti-State projections in textbooks, how can they allow anti-people campaign?\u201d he asked.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
Mr Rasool was referring to an Urdu textbook \u201cBaharistanae Urdu<\/span><\/em>\u201d prescribed in 2011 by the State\u2019s education department in which the picture of a uniformed man with a stick in his hand was used to depict a \u2018Zalim<\/span><\/em>\u2019 (tyrant). The department of school education banned the book and withdrew all its copies from the market following objections by the security agencies, and the BOSE chairman was booked for sedition.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
However, the distasteful characterization of a particular community has remained unnoticed with subject experts and academicians describing it as \u2018manipulation\u2019 and \u2018indoctrination\u2019 of children at a young age. Noted academician Dr AG Madhosh said the government must be held accountable for what is being taught in schools.  \u201cIn absence of any guidelines, such a distasteful characterization will seep into the vulnerable minds of children and affect their thought process. The government must investigate the matter,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
A source in the BOSE said there are no specific guidelines from the government to private schools as to which books or syllabi should be taught. \u201cBOSE prepare syllabi for classes up to 12th and prescribes texts for all the schools of the state registered with the department of school education. It has been made mandatory for the private schools to adopt these books in their curriculum only after which a certificate of registration is issued to them,\u201d he said.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
A top official in education department said the BOSE even sends inspection teams headed by concerned chief education officer of a district to private schools from time to time to check whether they follow the prescribed texts and, in case of any violation, ensure that only BOSE-certified NCERT books are taught to students.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cUnfortunately the teams are often deceived or even bribed by private schools on the day of inspection. In many cases, the BOSE officials alert the target school a day prior to inspection so as to give them time to be prepared to face the inspection team. Once the team leaves, they revert to their own books,\u201d the official said. I tried to get the reaction of J&K\u2019s deputy CM and school education minister Tara Chand but he didn\u2019t answer repeated phone calls on his mobile.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
At his single-storied Wahigub home in south Kashmir, Mr Sofi says the parents need to be careful in ensuring that their children are not exposed to mischievous ideas which can affect their thought process, \u201cToday\u2019s children face a bombardment of information from all sides. Parents and teachers have a role to guide the children in picking up only relevant information which will add meaning to their intellectual growth, not that which uproots them from their socio-cultural moorings and value systems,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/o:p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/b>By  \u00bb [Javd-U-Salam]<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Ali is a barber but Ankit is a doctor\u2019 Saif Ahmad is the first standard student at a private school in south Kashmir. His father Ghulam Ahmad Sofi runs a tea stall in Pulwama, which earns him a near-sufficient income to feed his family. Mr Sofi wanted to become a doctor but financial problems afflicting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}